I have a Remington 700sps 7mm-08 with a Leaupold VXIII3.5-10/50mm. I have decided to get a Kimber Montana with a new scope and get rid of my current set up. I hunt primarily white tail and maybe some hogs here in South Carolina. Therefore should I go back with the 7mm-08 because the rifle is so light or should I go with a 270 or 30.06? I won't be hunting Elk or anything larger so trying to buy a rifle for all around use is not necessary which makes me want to adios the thought of a 30.06. My max distance will be 300' but usually shoot 100-200 yards.
Scope. I like Leupold but now want to graduate to high end scope. I will spend up to $2000. I do a lot of early morning and dusk hunting. My shop recommends Shmit & Bender and Zeiss for that price range. They say they never have had a Bender returned and have had just a few Zeiss come back. They told me to stay away from Shawarski (sp) because they have a lot come back.
I just want the best scope for this rifle being that it is soo light.

I'm not sure about what scope you will want to use - I can't afford $2000, but I did get me a Swift 4-12 x 50 and it is great. I put it on my Remington 742 30-.06.. I don't use it as much as I do my Mauser 77 (7x57). I have a $100 Bushnell on it and it's great.

As far as guns - I use the 7x57 when I'm hunting in the woods (5-50 yards) and it is still good on out, but I use the 30.06 when I'm hunting 100-400 yards just because I am more confident with it at that range.

I'm from SC and that is where I do all my hunting - but if you're more comfortable with the 7.08 just keep using it and upgrade your scope - Try going to one of the hunting shops, the only one I can think of is Sportsman Warehouse in Columbia because they have a HUGE selection to look through. See if they will let you test them mounted on your gun and see which one feels right. Don't just go for the scope because of price, you can get a lot of great scopes for 300-500 bucks.

As for cartridge, if you've had good luck with the 7-08, why concider changing? As for the scope, the extra value you get out of the other scopes is more imagined than real. Leupold is as fine a scope as you can but. I say that not owning even one. What you should concern yourself with is power. The lower the magnification, the brighter it will be. For the ranges your talking I'd look at nothing over 2-7x. Personally I'd stick with my own 2 3/4x fixed. Even at 2x you have enough magnification for 300 yds shooting, at least I think you do, I do it!

Another plus of lower power is a bit smaller and lighter scope, they just handle better. My 2 3/4 and 1-4x both sit in low rings, My 3-9's med rings and my 41/2 - 14, high rings. The low powers are my favorite. A 2-7x is about the same size as a fixed 4x and will easy go med rings. I wouldn't rule out the fixed 4x either!

I suggest you take this topic to longrangehunting.com. Its hard to find a forum where folks will have experience with the upper end scopes. There are guys there that use nothing but the best and use it to its full capacity.
You will get suggestions for Nightforce, US Optics and IOR as well.

I'd give more scope advice, but I can't afford that stuff. If I could, I'd probably stay with the Burris' I like and spend my extra cash to make sure my other optics matched the quality of my scopes.

Now for cartridge, I do have an opinion b/c I hunt in SC and use a rifle similar to the one you have in mind. The .260 or 7mm-08 are your better choices. The give equivalent or better performance than the others and have less recoil. That rifle is going to have a good bit of muzzle rise. You'll want to minimize that as much as possible to maximize shootability. The .260 is better for 130 grains down. The 7 is better for 140 and up. FWIW, I went with the .260.

I further suggest you do not get rid of your current rig right away. Keep it for a year or two until you're sure you really like the new one better. You might find that you're able to shoot the old one better than the new one until you get used to it.

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